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Elias M. Briggs
Personal Identity
Occupation	Farmer, City Planner, City Builder
Birthplace	Kentucky
Birthdate	1823
Death	1896
Place of Burial
Family	"Uncle" Isaac Briggs (father), Mary Briggs (wife), children, Isaac R. Briggs (son), Abraham L Briggs (son), Charles W Briggs (son), George E Briggs (son), Robert Briggs (unknown relationship)
Personality & Physical nature
Education
Hobbies & Interests
Religion	Christian
Gender	Male
Heritage	White
Physical Characteristics
Social information
Affiliation
Residence	Springfield

History

Elias married Mary Johnson in 1847 in Daviess Co., Missouri. Just before the family travelled west.[1] Isaac, his wife Elizabeth "Betsey", Elias M. and Mary Briggs originally had lived in Iowa but decided to move westward in 1847 after they had pioneered the Church of Christ in Iowa. The family planned to bring hives of bees but lost them when his wagon overturned in water.[2] They arrived in the winter of 1848 through the South Road (another name for the Applegate Trail) to Pleasant Hill. There, they were charter members of that active church, then relocated to the Springfield area. Donation land claim records list their filing date on 640 acres as October 1849. (Geneaological Forum of Portland 1957):

[Briggs] chose as the site of his dwelling a spot convenient to a spring of water that sent up its bubbled with ceaseless energy. A portion of the prairie where stood this found in due time was fenced in the enclosure becoming known as the Spring-field - - hence the name of the town. His father soon sold his acreage in Pleasant Hill and claimed 640 acres next to Elias' land. Here for two years dwelt the Briggs family, the father and his belongings removing at the end of that time to a farm about a mile and a half from their original location. The father and son conducted the ferry where the fine bridge spans the Willamette. (Walling 1884:452). In the early 1850s, the settlement of Springfield consisted only of a ferry service across the Willamette, the Briggs' house, two mills, a trading post and a school.

A great flood in 1851 engulfed the entire site of Springfield. As the water receded, Elias and his father were able to detect the lowest points of land, allowing them to plot the course of a millrace. In 1852, using shovel and plow, he built the Millrace. After the Millrace was completed, he did a new venture. In partnership with Jeremiah Driggs and Thomas Monteith, two Linn County millers who financed the enterprise, as the Briggs and Driggs Company to build the flour and sawmills in 1853 and 1854. They were not the usual slap-dash mills built in pioneer communities for temporary and local consumption only, but instead, were designed and constructed under the supervision of an experienced millwright hired from the East Coast. They used the latest and best machinery and spending $10,000 on the two mills. The grist mill was the first flouring mill in Lane County, and the sawmill, which featured a sash saw, had the distinction of supplying the lumber for building the first county courthouse.

Although Springfield was established as a small industrial center, the census of 1850 and 1860 clearly shows that an overwhelming majority of the settlers in the area were engaged in agriculture (U.S. Census Office 1850, 1860). Even the Briggs family continued to farm, while maintaining their commercial enterprises. Elias and Mary had six children: Edward, Mary, Isaac, Abraham, Charles and George. Two of the children died during childhood and were buried on a two-acre plot in the Pioneer Cemetery on 2nd Street, which Elias had deeded to the City of Springfield in 1866.

We do not know just when the church began meeting, but by 1871 the Springfield Church reported 60 members. Early members included both Briggs families and Dr. William M. and Mariah Owsley.

At age 70, Elias was admitted to the Salem Insane Asylum (Oregon State Hospital). His admission records state that he was "delusional, began wandering about, neglecting himself and imagining all kinds of things about his neighbors." Based on this evidence, modern scholars believe that Elias had probably developed Alzheimer's disease or some other neurological disorder.

Elias died at the hospital on January 16, 1896; his death records state that he had cancer. He was buried in the Salem Hospital Cemetery. According to his obituary, he was survived by just two sons, Charles and George.

Following the enactment of S. B. 109, deaths at "any eleemosynary, penal, or corrective institution of the State of Oregon located at or near to the city of Salem," if unclaimed by a friend or relatives, would be subject to cremation. When the crematory was installed on the grounds in 1913, burials in the 30-year-old graveyard ceased as any subsequent unclaimed bodies were cremated as well as those previously interred in the cemetery. Because some of the buildings on the north side of Center Street were constructed over the abandoned asylum cemetery (including the Dome Building), these remains were later installed in the Memorial Circle near 25th Street. Their ashes now rest in the Memorial Circle on the western limits of the hospital grounds, "In Memory of Those Who Have Passed Away at the Oregon State Hospital."[3]

1880s

1880 Census shows the following people within the same household:

Briggs, Elias M. aged 56. Born about 1824 in Kentucky. Residence: Coast Fork, Lane, Oregon.Spouse: Mary

Mary, aged 54. Mother's birthplace: Kentucky

Isaac R Briggs, aged 23. Relationship: Son. Estimated birth year: abt 1857. Birthplace: Oregon. Farmer. Race: White. Gender: Male. Status: Single.

Abraham L Briggs, aged 13. Relationship: Son. Estimated birth year: abt 1867. Birthplace: Oregon. Occupation: Attending School. Race: White. Gender: Male. Status: Single.

Charles W Briggs, aged 11. Relationship: Son. Estimated birth year: abt 1869. Birthplace: Oregon. Occupation: Attending School. Race: White. Gender: Male. Status: Single.

George E Briggs, aged 7. Relationship: Son. Estimated birth year: abt 1873. Birthplace: Oregon. Occupation: Attending School. Race: White. Gender: Male. Status: Single.

Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Coast Fork, Lane, Oregon; Roll: T9_1081; Family History Film: 1255081; Page: 265.2000; Enumeration District: 66; Image: 0740.